A book that has stayed with you for a long time

[Peckhaminn]

Really looking for a book that is so utterly fantastic that it's stayed with you for a long time and you could re-read it over and over again. Any suggestions are welcome.

@Littlemissfroggy what a lovely thoughtful post.
@Puffykins i could have written your list. I remember discovering the Cazalet chronicles just a few years ago and never wanting to reach the end. I’d add The Secret History and The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt) to your list.

I’d add Fat is a Feminist Issue by Germaine Greer to The Women’s Room. Life-changing. Every 12 year old girl should read it.

I love Middlemarch and A Tale of Two Cities. More recently Hamnet. Beautiful book.

A Book Called Dieting Makes You Fat, by Geoffrey Cannon was an eye-opener to anorexic teenage me and I’ve never forgotten it.

I really loved Memoirs of a Geisha and that stayed with me long after reading it but that was over twenty years ago so not sure what I’d think of it now. The film wasn’t as good as the book. I was really in to Japanese history and culture at the time which added to my love of the book.

Therese Raquin by Zola. I remember reading it at 18.

The Collector by John Fowles.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Revolution Road by Richard Yates.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

The Grapes of wrath - my mum handed it to me when I was about 12, I think she was fed up of going to the library every 2 minutes for more books! I've read it about once a decade since then and every time it resonates in new ways

The Remains of the Day - something so beautiful and thoughtful about this book. It's always stayed with me, as I rush through the busyness of life.

The Choice -Edith Eger. Didn't just stay with me, this book (and her follow up the gift) really changed me. A powerful way of looking at the world and making the best of even impossible situations.

Loads more, but these three come to mind right now!

Snuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, I loved it, it's really stayed with me, the deep love of a son for his mother.

We Need To Talk About Kevin and the new (I think) Jojo Moyes book - In Another Woman's Shoes (or something like that).
Time to Think - Hannah Barnes.

Good choice

Best book I've ever read

Requiem for a Wren
A Prayer for Owen Meany
I Capture the Castle

I just read this. Amazing book. I don't normally chat about books as I read them but I kept having to talk about it!

@Fossie oh I looove Jim broadbent too. Hope it's done well

If you e not read a thousand splendid sons by the same order please read you'll love it. Both fantastic books my absolute favourite author wish he'd write more!

What a life

I have just re bought this after tracing it about twenty years ago. Didn't realise it was a film too

I read the books aged about 12 and have re read since and have seen the play, the casting for it was perfect.

YEARS ago (like probably 40) I read 'Not without my mother'. That's the one book that's stuck with me my whole life. I read it a few times then, but haven't for years as I'm not sure it would have 'travelled well through the passage of time.

Wuthering Heights - my all time favourite novel and I re read it every year or two.

All of Mitch Alborns novels are absolutely beautiful, life affirming and very moving.

The Shack. I really recommend this if you haven't read it. A hard read in places but again, life and faith affirming. Makes you think long and hard about religion and spirituality.

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold, I loved this book, I read it when I was a teen after my mum had read it and she said I could give it a go, said it was upsetting but a fantastic read. I would say it is my favourite book I’ve ever read, I cried so much reading it and remember one part of it so vividly that really made me emotional.

I also remember a book I read in my school library called Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson, that book was fantastic too.

I have always loved to read, I used to read all the time, everyday and I don’t think I’ve actually read a proper book in over a decade now, I miss it. My children have disabilities and I just haven’t had the time, that decade has gone by so quickly. I would love to try and start to read again, I used to love getting lost in the pages of a gripping read. It would be wonderful to have that time and to spend it doing something I once loved so much.

I agree with PP that where you are in life has an impact. In my book club, those of us that have already read The Alchemist love it and see it as life changing (I read it after I graduated and didn’t know what I wanted from life, a friend read it when she was about to emigrate etc) whereas those who have read it recently on our recommendation don’t like it - they’ve said it’s sexist/boring. Anyone else found this?

The Bell Jar
Memoirs of a Geisha
Where the Crawdads Sing
We need to talk about Kevin
The life of pi
Rebecca
Jane Eyre

It's a really beautiful book. I've just finished Miss Benson's Beetle and it's also really life affirming.

Middlemarch
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
The Bookshop, and others by Penelope Fitzgerald

I've probably read The Heart's Invisible Furies 10 times.

I read the Dark Materials trilogy every year. I used to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy every Christmas, but then the films came out and now I take a day off and watch them instead. I also read the Nigel Slater Christmas book every year, there's usually a read-along thread on here about that which is fun.

As for books that have stayed with me, too many to list...

I loved this one too.

Pollyanna. A kids book that I literally based my outlook on life on